Find Your Edge
Straddling the edge is a practice in and of itself… it’s one of balance… of curiosity… opening to new possibilities and increased freedom within the body and within life.
Spirituality
Unintentional Lessons
We do not have to put so much pressure on ourselves as parents, nor do we have to hold our parents responsible for their misgivings or perceived failures. Life is our teacher and everything that has happened to us is with purpose, molding our identity, our character, teaching us how to be in this world
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Risk it all… or play it safe?
It’s always when you feel you’re lacking something that life offers you that thing you are lacking and says, “Here you go… but there may be a cost attached.” Oh, the lovely opportunity cost that causes you to lose when you gain. It’s always the balance of figuring out whether you want to play the game. Do I risk losing A to gain B?
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Grief and Gratitude
Overwhelm is not such a bad thing. As I sit here and reflect on this past week, I am overwhelmed by feelings of love and gratitude. To give this post some context, the past few weeks have been hard. I went on vacation and experienced the joy of freedom and independence in a way that
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Pondering Old Age and Death
Aging is a reminder of impermanence in this plane. It’s a curious thing that as we grow in wisdom our bodies shrink in ability. It’s as though this body is only utilized during this lifetime to afford us the opportunity to learn and once we’ve mastered the lessons, the tool by which we learn ceases
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Taking Space
I spent the morning cleaning the house. Lately, I’ve been having a hard time finding gratitude for this life of mine. It feels as though every day is the same and I’m stuck in this role of mother and housekeeper. I don’t quite understand why he assumes that I am just going to be around
Enough… A Letter to My Daughter
I wait for you to fall asleep. I sit outside of your door and kill time while your music plays you into a peaceful slumber. You’re beautiful when you sleep… not just when you’re asleep, but always. It’s just that sometimes in the demands of life, I forget. I forget to see the beauty in
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Self-Discipline: Pick Yourself Up
As I get older, I’m finding that self-discipline is the most important trait that any of us can have. Self-discipline pushes us to do the things we “don’t feel like doing” for our own benefit. It’s the parent within us or the higher self that says, “I know you don’t want to eat your dinner, but you must if you are to grow and be healthy.”
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Same Moment: Different Experience
I woke up feeling blessed this morning. I looked over at my seven year old who still creeps into bed with me and I watched her sleep for some time. I felt overwhelmingly lucky to be her mom and happy that she still craved the physical closeness with me that often fades away as we
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Who Are You?
I impulse bought a bunch of hair products and brushes under the guise of self-love, when really I think it might have been an act of self-hatred sneaking in.
Expedition Happiness
Everything becomes a sacred moment where we can’t help but be moved by the world around us. In moments where we can truly feel everything and see everything as the mystery and the miracle that it is, we are catching a glimpse of “Heaven on Earth…” the “Kingdom of God.”
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Rest, Renewal, Connection
Rest is critical and while many Type A’s find it hard to do without pouring on guilt, shame, and self-loathing, I implore you to do it and learn how to silence the voices that wish to condemn you for it. There is so much to be gained from stillness.
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Community Service
Day 1 of “operation clean-up,” 4 short streets, 3 full bags of litter were picked up today by my daughter and me in our town within a matter of 2-3 hours. One person can make a difference. As we went about our business today, there were several things that really stood out to me, which
Mama Bear Attacks
When we don’t know what a stranger’s intentions are and they get close to those we love, we can immediately assume the worst.
Introverted Inner Work
It is sometimes hard for introverts to be understood because although we love you deeply, we can only tolerate so much constant interaction with you before we feel ourselves start to fade into the darker places where we don’t wish to go.
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Dream Small and Don’t Delay
Over the weekend, I was driving around and had the random thought that I hadn’t yet purchased the trash sticks I had thought of buying months ago. My 7 year old daughter and I often spend time walking around our neighborhood when the weather allows and we often also spend some time commenting on how
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Your Child is My Child
I see these children and I see my own in their stories. I feel my own heart breaking when I hear the stories of mothers who would give anything to have their child whole, happy, and safe once again.
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Kiss the Ground, Kiss Yourself
Industrialization has really made a mess of things in a lot of ways from my perspective, especially as it relates to the industrialization of the farming and food industries. I don’t believe in the industrializing of life. Life is meant to be somewhat wild and live in accordance with its nature.
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Why Feelings Can’t Always Be Trusted
When we act on feelings, we wind up with actions that aren’t always in our best interest. We feel vengeful so we key a car, then get caught and end up in court. We feel angry, so we lash out and say a bunch of stuff we don’t mean to intentionally hurt the person that made us angry…
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Finding Joy
I have often found myself in a game of hide and seek with joy where it has gone into hiding for far too long. As I look back, I realize the errors of my ways… the primary one being that I was the seeker yet I expected joy to find me.
Show Me Your Money, I’ll Show You Who You Are
Money is simply a resource that allows you to send your energy where you cannot be. It allows you to vote every time you open your wallet for what you care about. Suppose every dollar counts as 1 vote toward the things you want to see more of in this world.
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Prāṇāyāma: Our Link to Life
By gaining control of and focusing on the breath, we tell the body that we are in control and everything is well. The reptilian brain says, “Well if she’s breathing so deeply and peacefully, we must have a false alarm here. Let’s abort the mission and kick our feet up instead.”
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Awakening through Asana
Regular physical practice allows your thought patterns to rise to the surface so that you become more aware of the repeating patterns in them. It’s also a place where you can see the changes in your thought patterns more clearly. One day you’ll look back and realize, “Wow! This used to be something that I hated and now it’s my favorite posture.”
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Dhyana, Dharana, & Pratyahara: Meditation Molds Your Mind
Looking back, even the guided meditations I thought I was “failing at” were done correctly. Through them I was eventually able to see my perfectionist tendencies more clearly at work; the part of me that brashly shouted, “Get it right! Will you! You aren’t doing this good enough!”
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Īśvara Praṇidhāna: Surrender
What this observance asks is for us to accept life as it is, with the understanding that God is the “ruler of the kingdom” and God’s will is perfect. It is understanding that I belong to universal energy, you belong to universal energy, all life is not our own, but gifted by the universal energy. If that energy decides to remove itself from your body, down you crumble into a heap of decomposing rubbish.
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Svādhyāya: Do You Know You?
If you do not want your desires to rule you, then you must keep watch and stay vigilant. You must stand guard over your impulses, your mind, and your desires. There are many desires that come along that will only trip you up if you aren’t careful. When we stay focused on watching our mind and can see the “sin” (misguided desires) creeping in, we can ready ourselves to stand firm so that we aren’t derailed.
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Tapas: Can We Find Purpose In Pain & Suffering?
Tapas means to burn or to create heat. Tapaḥ is accepting pain as purification. Spiritually speaking, the process of tapas asks us to burn away that which does not serve us. It asks us to allow suffering to do this work of stripping away the impurities that prevent our light from shining through. It asks
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Saṁtoṣa/Santosha: The Art of Contentment
It is impossible to have contentment without surrender. In order to remain content, we must surrender our ideas of what “should be” knowing that we can only experience what is and that to wish for “what is” to be anything other is a waste of energy. When we let go of the idea that things should be as we desire them to be, we are free to find gratitude right where we are.
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Niyamas: Saucha | What Does Purity Mean to You?
Saucha translates to purity or purification. The idea of saucha is to be pure in thought, word, and deed (though I include body also). What does it mean to be pure? In essence, to be pure means to be authentically ourselves without the influence of any human or environmental factors. But, you may ask, how
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Aparigrahā: What You Possess Possesses You
The more you own, the more you feel responsible for. It takes energy to store, clean, and care for whatever you possess. When we let go of that which we don’t really need, more energy is reserved for what is most important to us.
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